Citrus season in Tucson

mesquite buckeye · January 22, 2015, 11:28:47 AM

Just entering the peak for citrus out here. For those who haven't noticed I have quite a few around the house. Nice thing is the blends you can make with juicing them together. ;D

Arizona Sweet Orange.

Minneola Tangelo.

2/3 Arizona Sweet, 1/3 Minneola Tangelo

Yum. ;D 8) 8) 8) 8)

Tangy and sweet, can't buy it like this. Kind of the citrus equivalent of freshly picked sweet corn. ;D

scsmith42 · January 22, 2015, 12:46:59 PM

That does look good! We have our own squeezer and having fresh squeezed juice is a treat.

My in-laws just shipped us a case of Florida Honeybell oranges (tangelo's) and they really taste great! Two oranges will provide enough juice to fill a cup, and we've been enjoying fresh juice every day.

mesquite buckeye · January 22, 2015, 01:20:42 PM

Can't beat it with a stick. ;D (old saying)

Raider Bill · January 22, 2015, 05:53:06 PM

I used to have several citrus trees but something called called Citrus greening came through and killed them all off. Most everyone lost their trees.

When riding through the center of Florida I see square miles of citrus groves dead from it.

caveman · January 22, 2015, 10:30:12 PM

Minneola and Honey Bell are the same thing. The Florida citrus industry is in real trouble due to Greening, which is vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid. After the hurricanes of 2004, the Greening problem became much more widespread. Even the UF citrus research arboretum in Lake Alfred has pervasive Greening and citrus canker now.

Today, while driving from Lakeland to the feed mill in Zephyr Hills to pick up hog feed, I noticed workers were pushing what looked to be a 40 acre grove. A few folks were loading the larger stems and limbs onto trucks and the rest were being piled and burned. Citrus is good wood to cook on. This past fall, I pushed up almost all of the trees on our school's grove (100+) because the Greening was so bad. Nearly all of the citrus trees in Florida have Greening now. Some can remain in production for a few years with intense pest management and fertilization programs but the cost of production per acre sky rockets.

I was speaking with some researchers from UF back in the summer and they have some hope that steaming individual trees to a temperature of 137° may kill the bacteria that causes Greening. No one in the industry that I have spoken to has much hope that steaming will be a commercially viable option.

That was a tasty looking glass of Juice Mesquite Buckeye.
Caveman

drobertson · January 24, 2015, 08:34:55 AM

That looks delicious! wish we could grow citrus here,

Mooseherder · January 24, 2015, 09:18:19 AM

I tried growing Citrus when we first moved here but the bugs kept attacking the trees.
We gave up after a few years. My neighbor is now growing Papaya, Lime, Mango and a Whole bunch of other stuff successfully.
He gave me a Papaya last weekend. It was delicious. Made me regret not planting more Fruit bearing trees.

StimW · January 24, 2015, 07:17:43 PM

My favorite is Red Navel.
I didn't like oranges because of the acid taste but a friend gave some Reds from his trees and I was hooked!
I went out and bought two trees from local nursery.
That was 5 years ago and I picked a 5 gallon bucket from each tree a few weeks ago just before a freeze.
They are so sweet and if I drink water after eating one there is no after taste from the oranges.
I have a very large Tangerine tree that is LOADED!! But someone planted it from a seed and it is sour so they just stay on the tree.

sawguy21 · January 24, 2015, 08:25:16 PM

We really enjoy oranges and are getting some really good ones lately. Caracara (red navels) are favorites. Tough hearing about the Florida crop, hard on the growers and will only drive prices up.

caveman · January 25, 2015, 10:02:16 PM

Several years ago, we had some really nice red navel trees at school. We used to sell a 50# feed sack full of them or other varieties for $10 a bag. They needed a place to put portable classrooms so they pushed that grove of 130 trees on Sept. 24, 2004. We replanted in another location and the Greening bacteria did it in so we pushed it up this fall.
Caveman

Raider Bill · February 18, 2015, 11:10:53 AM

This was in the paper last week

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/agriculture/florida-lab-has-one-objective-stop-citrus-greening/2217619

mesquite buckeye · February 18, 2015, 12:54:07 PM

I'm sure they will fix it. Doubt many of us will be living by then. :(

Raider Bill · February 18, 2015, 03:14:54 PM

I bought a Valencia orange and a mango tree last week. Both are about 6' tall in pots. Soon as this cold weather goes by I'll get them in the ground.

mesquite buckeye · May 03, 2015, 05:04:50 PM

Best juice of the season. Kinnow mandarin. YUM. ;D 8) 8) 8)

mesquite buckeye · June 10, 2015, 12:35:36 PM

Citrus season is coming to an end. :'( :'( :'(

Maybe enough grapefruits for 1 more gallon after this. Probably another one that will be ripe in July from some summer flowering last year.

Ruby red grapefruit. Bites back. ;D Found one Arizona Sweet orange to toss in the mix.

All that is left is the Valencia oranges. They are still good because the late spring was cool. They might last a couple more weeks till I drink all of those. ;D 8) 8) 8)

I guess that is why I am such a sweet guy.